Jacksonville to construct first park and ride

Monday

Mar 20, 2017 at 12:01 AM

Michaela Sumner michaelasumner_ now

Nestled between an amphitheater and baseball diamonds is the future site of Jacksonville’s first park and ride.

The facility, which will hold about 200 parking spaces, is designed to provide access to combined forms of transportation, according to Jacksonville Transportation Administrator Anthony Prinz. Forms of transportation include the Jacksonville Transit service, Greyhound and Amtrak.

The project is expected to cost a total of $937,500, with about $750,000 expected to be funded by the Federal Transit Administration. While the cost to the City of Jacksonville will be $187,500, that comes from the value of the property used for the project, which is already owned by the city, according to information provided by Prinz.

According to City Manager Richard Woodruff, public interest in riding the city’s transit system has increased by 5 to 8 percent each year. He added some of the more popular stops for the transit service include Coastal Carolina Community College and Jacksonville Mall, since those seem to have parking issues.

“(The park and ride) allows people to be able to find a convenient and safe parking area, ride transit and avoid congestion on road systems,” Woodruff said. “It helps people to not have to drive ... it makes it easier for people attending Coastal Carolina Community College, so they can ride the transit system and park in a secure location rather than having to fight traffic and parking at Coastal.”

The city manager added that the public will be able to use the parking spaces for events going on at Jacksonvlle Commons as well.

The Transportation Department started out with 62 locations in city limits the park and ride could be constructed, Prinz said, adding that they’d narrowed it down to the Jacksonville Commons as the best location. In the original plans for the park, Prinz recalled, the designers had always envisioned a parking facility similar to the one that will be constructed there.

A parking facility like this, Prinz said, is needed as the city continues to grow.

“It’s forward thinking in that it’s not just a transit facility,” he said. “It also serves the greater community as a whole.”

That community, he added, includes Marines from nearby Camp Lejeune, New River Air Station, and even Cherry Point. He suggested Marines could carpool from the lot to any of the bases, thus saving fuel; and the Marines could use the lot to travel to the Greyhound and Amtrak bus stops for their leave blocks.

Prinz said he hopes to have the designs completed by fall and begin construction this winter. While he said the facility will be substantially complete by spring 2018, he expects it to be fully complete by summer 2018.